Sunday, October 29, 2006

VegasSno Strikes Again

The mongoose and the cobra squared off in the heads up match this evening. It was a match up that is destined to become an instant classic. VegasSno and Rankdizzle put on quite a show for those of us on the rail when they went head-to-head for 46 hands. VegasSno had been holding a comfortable lead when the table was down to three, but when Rankdizzle knocked out Glenso the chip stacks were nearly even – VegasSno with 41450 and Rankdizzle with 39550. The cobra won this time striking a venomous blow on the final hand. VegasSno was our winner. With a field of 54 we paid eight this week with VegasSno taking the honors, followed by Rankdizzle, Glenso, Evil Crusher, Smurfette, KOR, DebiMac, and NikDomi.

Yes, we had 54 playing tonight and I made an early exit going out in 49th place. Oh well, I’m just giving all of you a false sense of hope going into the Birthday Bash. We were down to 37 at the first hour break and here are your leaders.
DebiMac = 5445
KennyJ37 = 5175
Maronie47 = 5075
Glenso = 4570
Hazy Cat = 4155
Rankdizzle = 4090
Nik Domi = 3500
rshocker = 3160
Lil Mem = 3055
MagikCowboy = 3000

It took the whole next hour to cut this group down to 15 players. This large field makes for a lot of action. At the second hour break your leader board looked like this.
Rankdizzle = 11560
Mellow Yellow = 10425
KOR = 9690
DebiMac = 8685
Avata = 6670
Glenso = 6150
VegasSno = 5610
MagikCowboy = 5480
Smurfette = 4605
evilCrusher = 2985

Finally, after nearly 2 and a half hours your final table was set. Mellow Yellow had taken a big hit and actually busted out in 11th place during this time. One of the most notable hands occurred when we were down to 13 players left in the Holdem Affair. Glenso was our chip leader and was cruising along in control when he found himself taking KOR all-in. Glenso had big slick and KOR had pocket jacks. The flop came 4JT giving KOR his set. The turn twisted that around with the queen that gave Glenso his straight. KOR was ready to call it a night when the river produced the case Jack giving KOR quads and the pot. With the turn of one card, KOR had gone from the rail to the chip leader. KOR kept that lead going into the final table and for quite awhile it looked like that was going to be the decisive hand in the event.

Your final table looked like this.
KOR = 14805
VegasSno = 14320
Rankdizzle = 11270
DebiMac = 10160
Smurfette = 8260
Glenso = 7410
evilCrusher = 4870
Nik Domi = 4760
Avata = 3845
Tai Pan = 1300

With the antes 75 and the blinds 300/600, Tai Pan knew he had to come out firing. He was all-in on the very first hand and split the pot with DebiMac. Then on the third hand he pushed his Ac Qs and was called by KOR holding Ad 5s. It looked good for Tai but the board ended up 3h 3d Th 9h 5h. Tai got rivered and sent off in 10th place.

Avata was in the same position and actually won the next two hands doubling up once off KOR. Then on hand 7, Avata pushed big slick only to be called by DebiMac holding pocket jacks. The turn brought the jack of diamonds and Avata was gone in 9th place. We usually pay five in this event so I don’t know if many of the players realized that we now had our money table. That was a very quick bubble.

We don’t know what happened to Nik Domi but he had been disconnected when we went to the final table and blinded out in 8th place on hand 22.

The battle was on for the next 25 hands. VegasSno and Rankdizzle seemed to get the best of this run of hands. DebiMac appeared to have gone stone cold with her cards. KOR was active but hit a series of second best hands that hit his stack pretty hard. Then, on hand 47, DebiMac posted the 1200 big blind with only 9050 chips left in her armament. VegasSno was the only challenger and they saw the cheap flop fall 8d Kc Td. DebiMac held 8c 2c and bet out 3875. VegasSno raised to 15500 taking Deb all-in with her call. VegasSno turned over Kh Jd for top pair. The kings held up and DebiMac was done for the night in 7th place.

Just two hands later, KOR was in the small blind with 6800 and posting a 600 blind. He looked down and saw Ac Kc staring back at him and, joy of joy, Glenso pushed all of his 7995 into the middle ahead of him. Not a problem for KOR, he will gladly push his 6675 into the middle with slick. The flop was brutal showing 8s Tc Ah. KOR had hit his ace but Glenso had his set. The turn Kd only added to the suspense. Now KOR could boat up and win this hand. But the river 9c wasn’t what KOR was looking for. Sixth place was the honors. Very well done.

Five players with healthy chip stacks make for a lively table for the next two orbits. VegasSno was the chip leader but it was Rankdizzle in second place that was pushing the action. That is the Dizzle game. He will push every edge he sees. Hand 61 was no exception. All fold to Rankdizzle in the small blind and he holds 5h 5c. He raised to 4225. But Smurfette was in the big blind with a hand of her own – Ah Jc. She responded by pushing all of the 6685 left in her stack into the middle. Rankdizzle made the call. The flop hit Smurfette hard with Jd Js 2d – she flopped trips. It was not looking good for Rankdizzle but the pain was short lived because the turn brought the 5d and Rank had a full house. Smurfette had fought hard but had to settle for 5th place.

We were down to four with VegasSno in the lead and Rankdizzle right behind him. EvilCrusher was third and Glenso was the short stack with just 10BB in his stack. With the antes now 125 and the blinds 600/1200, just stealing the blinds meant a chip infusion for the short stacks. But Vegas and Rank were playing power poker pushing when they entered the pot. There wasn’t much room for Glenso and evilCrusher to move. Then on hand 72 Rankdizzle pushed all 28230 into the middle UTG. This play had been successfully stealing the blinds for Rank but this time Glenso rose to the challenge with his 7520 and made the call holding pocket tens. Time to make my stand he seemed to be saying. But that was okay with Rank because this time he wasn’t raising with smoke – he held Ad Kd, big slick and suited. The flop was low but with two of Rank’s diamonds - 9d 2d 2s. The turn was the 8c and Rankdizzle still had plenty of outs. But the 6h was no help. Glenso doubled up and was back in the game. Hand 78 and evilCrusher won a nice pot off VegasSno to get healthy. This game was getting very interesting. Hand 82 and VegasSno took most of those chips back from evilCrusher.

Hand 87 – VegasSno said “good luck to anyone who calls this” and pushed from UTG. EvilCrusher said he would accept that challenge and pushed in his 10180. Crusher had Ah Tc but VegasSno had As Qs. The Qc on the flop was all Vegas needed to send evilCrusher off to the lounge to collect his fourth place money. Great game evilCrusher.

Down to three handed and VegasSno had more than half the chips in play. Hand 93 and Glenso was down to 8090 posting the 1600 big blind. Rankdizzle pushed to open and Glenso called with Qh 7c. Rankdizzle turned over Tc Jd. Looking good for Glenso, but the flop was Ts 6c Kd hitting Rankdizzle for second pair. Glenso had plenty of outs but none of then materialized and we were going into the heads up match.

When Rank knocked out Glenso that consolidated the two smaller stacks and we were actually almost even going into heads up. The heads up match lasted 46 hands. Early on VegasSno was inching ahead and then Rankdizzle pulled him back. Hand 108 VegasSno won a large pot and gained a little ground. They battled for another 20 hands or so essentially staying even. VegasSno was pulling away but it was very gradual. Finally on hand 139 we had a winner. And it was a fitting hand to end the match. A classic example of the type of hands that we were seeing this evening. All the money was in before the flop. VegasSno held 8s 8h and Rankdizzle Ac Th. The race was on. The flop hit Rankdizzle with Ts 6c Kd. Those tens were looking good when the turn showed the 3s. But that pesky river card is such a heart breaker. The 8d gave VegasSno the set and the win.

Peace

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